Publishing Notes: READER'S DIGEST and TIPTON POETRY JOURNAL

Yesterday, news items detailed the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for Reader’s Digest, a periodical that has been part of Americana for the past 87 years. At its height of popularity, the magazine once boasted a circulation of nearly 18 million. Although every day one can come across similar media reports concerning the difficulties of print publishing during the Internet age, I am heartened by evidence that a number of wonderful little magazines or regional literary journals continue to publish and provide readers with delightful writing. Tipton Poetry Journal, a quarterly journal originating in rural Indiana, provides an excellent example of such a fine print publication.

The Summer 2009 issue of Tipton Poetry Journal, Number 14, has just been released, and it can be ordered at the publication’s web page for the small price of $5.00 ($16.00 for a year’s subscription). I am pleased to note that one of my new poems, “Revisiting the Farm: Cass County, Indiana,” is among more than forty works included in this latest issue by various poets, including David Shumate, Kristine Ong Muslim, Susan Yount, William Aarnes, Norbert Krapf, Doug Ramspeck, Fredrick Zydek, and a number of others. Congratulations to editor Barry Harris on his continuation with Tipton Poetry Journal in the esteemed tradition of print literary magazines.